Remember, the old song, “99 bottles of beer on the wall?”  Imagine counting down from a 1,000 bottles of wine on the wall.  One person has figured out that’s how much wine Jesus created from the water.

I went on line to Stone Hill winery in Missouri.  There I found their most expensive wine Cross J Norton for $25.00 a bottle.  If the calculations are correct, Jesus made $25,000 worth of wine.  But I was also interested in the label of the Cross J.  It features a cross overlaid with a J, which looks like a cattle brand.  I don’t know what Stone Hill Winery intended with the cross J, but I could not help but think of Jesus on the cross.  There his extravagant grace was shown to us.  When we receive Holy Communion we are receiving that extravagant grace in the wine (blood) and bread (body).

In bible class yesterday I covered Jesus turning a lot of water into too way too much wine.  It was also the text for my sermon.  When I got to the part where Mary tells Jesus, “They have no wine” Kevin, one of the elders smiled and said, “I can hear just my mother saying, ‘They’ve had enough. They don’t need any more wine.’”  While Kevin’s mother may have disapproved of Jesus supplying way too much wine for the wedding reception, the wine actually points to Jesus who reveals that he is the fleshly embodiment of the fullness of God’s glory, grace and truth.

Of course in John the signs Jesus does always points to something more.  For instance, the feeding of the 5,000 signals the return of the manna in the wilderness.  Again, Jesus supplies an overabundance. Jesus raising Lazarus looks ahead to his own death and resurrection and the abundant life which Jesus brought while visiting among us.